Good Samaritans praised for intervening as man pleads guilty to raping his cousin

Good Samaritans who stepped in to stop a man raping his unconscious cousin in Doctors Gully ‘should be highly commended’ for their actions, a court has heard.

A 38-year-old man has pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to one count of rape.

GOOD Samaritans who stepped in to stop a man raping his unconscious cousin in Doctors Gully “should be highly commended” for their actions, a court has heard.

A 38-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court on Monday to raping the woman in June last year.

Crown prosecutor Stephen Geary told the court Christopher Brown was passing by the area near the YMCA when a man approached him saying “something’s going on” and pointing back the way he came.

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Upon investigating, Mr Brown found the rapist having sex with the woman who appeared to be unconscious and went to get help.

Mr Brown returned a short time later with another passer-by, Tom Jones, who told the attacker he was going to call the police.

The man then got off the woman, saying “Don’t call the police, there’s nothing wrong”.

Mr Geary praised Mr Brown for staying with the woman until police arrived and arrested her attacker, saying “intoxicated women are routinely taken advantage of by men” in Darwin but it was less common that passers-by would stop to help.

“The victim in this matter … had some people that actually took a good Samaritan role with regard to her welfare and in fact one of them stood guard while the police were coming,” he said.

“In this case you have people that actually take an interest in the public welfare of someone who’s clearly in a disadvantaged position and the role they played in securing her safety from this offender and stopping him fundamentally from continuing should be highly commended.”

In arguing for a significant head sentence with a non-parole period, Mr Geary said the man had multiple prior convictions for assaulting women and had “absolutely no respect for women at all”.

“It is important to send a message, your honour, that this sort of behaviour is completely unacceptable,” he said.

“Aboriginal women who are intoxicated need protection from the courts and from the community and on this occasion, unlike on a couple of occasions previously (before the court) community members have stepped forward to at least interrupt the offending.”

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In arguing for a partially suspended sentence, defence counsel Jalal Razi said “community protection would be best achieved” through conditions banning his client from the places where his offending took place.

“At some point (he) will be released, he understands and he accepts that it is going to be several years from now and there’s no deluded expectations in that respect,” he said.

“But when he is released it’s our submission that there would be a benefit to having certainty that he not enter Darwin, that he not enter Katherine, that he not enter Alice Springs.”

The man returns to court for sentencing on Wednesday.